G. K. Butterfield: “I thank the gentleman for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my good friend Congressman Jim Clyburn's bill…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my good friend Congressman Jim Clyburn's bill to reauthorize the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Historic Preservation program. I have known Jim Clyburn for more than 35 years, and this has been his passion ever since I first met him many years ago. I thank Mr. Clyburn for his passion and his leadership on this issue. Since 1988, the HBCU Historic Preservation program has provided more than $60 million to HBCUs all across the country to support infrastructure and facilitate learning. Both my undergraduate and law school alma mater, North Carolina Central University in Durham, an institution that I am now proud to represent in Congress, has greatly benefited from the program. And I might say that my father graduated from Shaw University, which is an HBCU, and later from Meharry Medical College. My mother attended high school at Shaw University and graduated from college at Hampton Institute, now called Hampton University. Mr. Speaker, HBCUs fill a unique and important role in our Nation's higher education system and in our country's narrative. Not only do HBCUs train our workforce of the future by producing the most African- American students who can earn science and engineering doctoral degrees, they are integral parts of our national identity.…”